the tragedy of hamlet (william shakespeare, ed. edward dowden, 1899 methuen & co.)the works of...

7/29/2019 The Tragedy of Hamlet (William Shakespeare, Ed. Edward Dowden, 1899 Methuen & Co.)the Works of Shakespe

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THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET


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THE WORKSOFSHAKESPEARE

THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLETEDITED BY

EDWARD DOWDEN

n

METHUEN AND CO.36 ESSEX STREET: STRANDLONDON

1899


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9 5 7 7 95


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CONTENTSPAGE

Introduction ixThe Tragedy of Hamlet iAppendix I. The Travelling of the Players. . 229Appendix II.Some Passages from the Quarto of

1603 231Appendix III. Addenda 235


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INTRODUCTIONThis edition of Hamlet aims in the first place at givinga trustworthy text.

Secondly, it attempts to exhibit the variations fromthat text which are found in the primary sourcestheQuarto of 1604 and the Folio of 1623in so far as thosevariations are of importance towards the ascertainment ofthe text. Every variation is not recorded, but I havechosen to err on the side of excess rather than on that ofdefect. Readings from the Quarto of 1603 are occa-sionally given, and also from the later Quartos and Folios,but to record such readings is not a part of the design ofthis edition. The letter Q means Quarto 1 604 ; F meansFolio 1623.

The dates of the later Quartos are as follows:Q 3,1605 ; Q 4, 161 1 ; Q 5, undated ; Q 6, 1637. For myfew references to these later Quartos I have trusted theCambridge Shakespeare and Furness's edition of Hamlet.

Thirdly, it gives explanatory notes. Here it isinevitable that my task should in the main be that ofselection and condensation. But, gleaning after thegleaners, I have perhaps brought together a slendersheaf. Thus, I am not aware that I have been antici-


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X INTRODUCTIONpated in my explanation of Hamlet's question aboutAlexander's body, in the Churchyard scene (v. i. 218);of his swearing by St. Patrick (i. v. 136); of the nameLamord (iv. vii. 93). I hope I may have done somethingtowards the solution of the dram of eale crux (l. iv.2638), and of stand a comma 'tween their amities(v. ii. 42). I have noted a curious parallel betweenJonson and Shakespeare (ll. ii. 210214). With the aidof the New English Dictionary I have perhaps removedany doubt as to the meaning of mortal coil (ill. i. 6^^,and given its correct sense (though this is doubtful) toanchor's cheer (ill. ii. 231). I have perhaps explainedwhy Folonius classes fencing with drinking and drab-bing (II. i. 25). I have made what I suppose to be newperhaps erroneoussuggestions as to Take this fromthis (II. ii. 156) and tender me a fool (l. iii. 109). Ifingenuities are anywhere pardonable, it is in conjecturingthe meaning of Hamlet's riddling speeches ; it was nothis cue ever to talk sheer nonsense ; accordingly I haveventured to throw out, doubtfully, suggestions possiblydarkening counsel with wordson fishmonger (ll. ii.174), mad . . . handsaw (ll. ii. 401-403), suit ofsables (ill. ii. 139), soul of Nero (ill. ii. 413), thebody is with the king (IV. ii. 30), drink up eisel, eata crocodile (V. i. 298). I, very doubtfully, suggest anew reading of select and generous (i. iii. 74), and amodification of Mr. Tovey's emendation of the Yaughan crux (v. i. 6']'). Occasionally, as in the Nunnery scenewith Ophelia (ill. i.), I have tried to explain Hamlet'sthoughts rather than verbal difficulties. When what isworthless has been sifted away, a little that is a


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INTRODUCTION xireal addition to our knowledge of Shakespeare mayremain.

For the earliest references to the legendary Hamletthe reader should consult Mr. Gollancz's interestingvolume Hamlet in Iceland (1898). The first in date,he tells us, is found in the second section of SnorriSturlason's Prose Edda (about 1230): The NineMaids of the Island Mill (daughters of ^gir, theOcean-god) in ages past ground Hamlet's meal. Thewords occur in a quotation of Snorri from Snaebjorn, whowas probably an Arctic adventurer of the tenth century.The name Amhlaide is found yet earlier. In the Ajinalsof Ireland by the Four Masters, under the year 9 1( = 919), in a fragment of song (having reference to thebattle of Ath-Cliath between the Northerners and theIrish) attributed to Queen Gormflaith, appear the words Niall Glundubh [was slain] by Amhlaide. Mr. Gol-lancz identifies this Amhlaide with Sitric, a Northerner,who first came to Dublin in 888, and hazards the con-jecture that Gaile, a cognomen applied to Sitric, maymean mad, and that Amhlaide may be a synonym of Gaile. He believes that in the Scandinavian kingdomof Ireland was developed, in the eleventh century, theNorthern tale of Hamlet as we know it from Saxo.^

Probably about the opening of the thirteenth centurythe Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus told in Latin the

The Ainbales Saga, which Mr. Gollancz prints, is in its present forma modern production belonging to the sixteenth, or perhaps early seven-teenth century, preserving possibly some elements of the pre-Saxo Ilamletlegend. The Icelandic folk-talc of Brjam (first written down from oraltradition in 1705) is nothing but a levelling down of the story of Ilamlet,cleverly blended with another folk-tale of the ' Clever Hans ' type (Gollancz,Introduction, Ixiv and Ixviii).


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xii INTRODUCTIONstory of Amlethus in the third and fourth books of hisHistory of the Dajies. The reader will find an Englishversion in Mr. Elton's translation of Saxo. The NorthernHamlet legends, oral or written, are mingled by Saxowith borrowings from the old Roman story of LuciusJunius Brutus. Horwendil and his brother Feng ruleJutland under King Rorik of Denmark. Horwendilslays Roll, king of Norway, and marries Gerutha, thedaughter of King Rorik ; their son is Amleth. Feng,jealous of his brother, slays Horwendil, and takes Geruthato wife. Amleth feigns to be dull of wits and little betterthan a beast, while secretly planning vengeance. Hebaffles the courtiers by riddling words, which for themare nonsense, but are really significant. A girl, hisfoster-sister, is placed in his way, in the hope that hisconduct may betray his true state of mind ; his foster-brother warns him of the snare, and he baffles hisenemies. A friend of Feng, more confident than wise,proposes to act as eavesdropper during an interviewbetween Amleth and his mother. Amleth, crowing likea cock, flapping his arms like wings, and leaping hitherand thither, discovers the eavesdropper hidden understraw, stabs him and brutally disposes of the body. Heexplains to his mother that his madness is feigned andthat he plans revenge, and he gains her over to his side.His uncle sends Amleth to Britain, with two companions,who bear a letter graven on wood, requesting the king toslay Amleth. The letter is altered by Amleth, and hiscompanions are put to death. His adventures in Britaindo not affect Shakespeare's play. He returns, makes thecourtiers drunk, nets them in hangings knitted by his


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INTRODUCTION xiiimother, sets fire to the palace, and slays his uncle withthe sword. He harangues the people, and is hailed asFeng's successor. After other adventures of crafty deviceand daring deed, Amleth dies in battle. Had he lived,favoured by nature and fortune, he would have surpassedHercules.

Sa:>co's History was printed in 15 14. In 1570 Belle-forestfreely rendering Saxo's Latintold the story ofAmleth in French in the fifth volume of his Histoirestragiques. The English translation of Belleforest's story.The Historic of Hamblet, is dated 1608, and may havebeen called forth by the popularity of Shakespeare'splay.^ Here the eavesdropper hides behind the hang-ings of Geruthe's chamber, and Hamblet cries, A

. rat a rat circumstances probably borrowed fromShakespeare.

As early as 1589 an English drama on the subjectof Hamlet was in existence. It is referred to in thatyear by Thomas Nash in a printed letter accompanyingGreene's MenapJion. VVe know from this passage, andother allusions, that it was a drama written under theinfluence of Seneca, and that a ghost appeared in itcrying Revenge Henslowe's diary informs us that itwas acted, not as a new play, at Newington Butts inJune 1594. The suggestion that Thomas Kyd was theauthormade long sincewas supported with sub-stantial evidence by Mr. Fleay in his Chronicle of theEnglish Drama (i 891), and, in my opinion, was decisivelyproved by Gregor Sarrazin in the section entitled Der

^ It may be found in Furness's Hamlet, vol. ii., or in Collier's Shake-speare's Libra)y, vol. i.


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xiv INTRODUCTIONUr-Hamlet of his Thomas Kyd und sein Kreis (1892).It is not improbable that Nash, in the passage where hespeaks of Hamlet, puns upon the name Kyd. We mayfairly assume that it was a companion piece to Kyd'sSpanish Tragedyitself a play of revenge (a father'srevenge for a murdered son, inverting the Hamlettheme) ; of violent passion bordering on distractionincluding among the dramatis personce a ghost, and pre-senting, like Hamlet, a play within the play. Kydtranslated Garnier's Cornelia from the French, and couldread the story of Hamlet in Belleforest. English actorshad visited Elsinore, and had lately returned to London,bringing their tidings of Denmark.

Mr. Corbin, in a very ingenious study. The ElizabethanHamlet (1895), has conjectured that the lost play byKyd exhibited a Hamlet resembling the Amleth of Saxoin his being rather a man of resolute action than a manof contemplation, and that his assumption of madnesswas the occasion of vulgar comedy ; the affliction ofinsanity was, as we know, often regarded by Elizabethandramatists from the comic point of view. The con-jecture is well worthy of consideration. In developinghis theory Mr. Corbin makes use, however, of one pieceof evidence, which must be held as of doubtful value.A rude German drama, Der Bestrafte Bj-iidermord, foundin a manuscript dated 17 10, is taken by Mr. Corbin andothers as based on Kyd's Hamlet. This is possiblebut it seems to me far more probable that the Germanplay is a debased adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet inits earliest form. Perhaps, as Tanger has suggested{Shakespeare Jahrbuch, xxiii.), a few recollections of the


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INTRODUCTION xvlater form of Shakespeare's play were woven in by actorswho arrived in Germany at a later date.^

Under the date July 26, 1602, was entered in theStationers' Registers for the printer James Roberts, Abooke called The Revenge of Hamlet Prince [of] Den-marke, as yt was latelie Acted by the Lord Chamberleynehis servantes. There are no grounds for supposing thatShakespeare wrote the play earlier than 1602,- In thefollowing year appeared in quarto, The TragicallHistorie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke By WilliamShake- speare. As it hath beene diverse times acted byhis Highnesse servants in the Cittie of London : as also inthe two Vniversities of Cambridge and Oxford, and else-where. At London printed for N. L. and John Trundell.1603. The Lord Chamberlain's servants of 1602Shakespeare's companyhad, since the accession ofJames I., become his Highness' servants. It is conjecturedthat the play was acted at the Universities at some enter-tainment in honour of the king's accession, the subjectbeing connected with the native country of his queen.

In 1 604 appeared a second Quarto : The TragicallHistorie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke. By WilliamShakespeare. Newly imprinted and enlarged to almostas much againe as it was, according to the true andperfect Coppie. At London, Printed by I. R. for N. L.,

^ See Cohn's Shakespeare in Germany (1865) ; Latham's Two Disserta-tions on the Hamlet of Saxo Grammaticus and of Shakespear (1872); andFurness's Hamlet, vol. ii. A Hamlet was performed by English actors atDresden in 1626. Tanger's article, referred to above, is of great value.

* The note by Gabriel Harvey in a copy of Spcght's Chancer (1598),mentioning Hamlet, was seen by Steevens, Bisliop I'crcy, and Malonc, butits date was a matter of conjecture. Harvey lived for many years after thepublication of Shakespeare's Hamlet.


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xvi INTRODUCTIONand are to be sold at his shoppe under Saint DunstonsChurch in Fleetstreet. 1604, I, R, stands, we may besure, for James Roberts.

It is unquestionable that the copy for the Quarto of1603 was surreptitiously obtained. Errors which seemto be rather errors of hearing than of sight, or of acompositor's memory in setting up a group of words,indicate that, according to a practice of the time, a short-hand writer was employed to take notes of the speechesduring a theatrical performance. There are also errorswhich look like errors of a copyist ; some of these mayhave occurred in writing out the shorthand notes for theprinter, T. Bright's system of shorthand, moreover, gavescope for many errors in interpreting the characters ofthe stenographer.^ But the conjecture of the editors ofthe Cambridge Shakespeare that the defects of the manu-script derived from shorthand were supplemented by areference to the authentic copy in the library of thetheatre, seems to deserve consideration. The earlierportion of the Quarto is both fuller and less inaccurate ascompared with the true text than the later ; perhapsthe shorthand writer scamped his work ; perhaps thetheatrical underling, whom we may suppose as assistinghim by reference to the copy in the theatre, was dis-covered, or had no opportunity of completing hisdishonest labours. In some instances it looks as if onlya hasty and partly incorrect note of the substance of aspeech was made, and this was expanded into severalfeeble or incoherent lines.

^ See on this subject a remarkable paper, Shakespeare und die Steno-graphie, by Curt Dewischeit, in the Shakespsare Jahrbuch, xxxiv. (1898).


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INTRODUCTION xviiThe Quarto of 1603, containing 2143 lines, is

shorter by some seventeen or eighteen hundred linesthan the play as we construct it from the second Quartoand the Folio ; yet it gives substantially the whole actionof the complete play. The names of two charactersdiffer from those familiar to us Polonius is hereCorambis, and Reynaldo is Montano. Osric is here a Bragart Gentleman ; Francisco is known only asfirst Centinel. The King and Queen of the Mouse-trap tragedy are a duke and duchess ; the duke's nameis Albertus, not Gonzago ; the duke and duchess havebeen forty years married, not thirty. Yorick's skull hasbeen twelve years in the ground, not three-and-twenty.Laertes has come from Paris to the late King's funeral,not to the coronation of King Claudius. Hamlet's in-dignant 'Tis not alone my inky cloak is addressed toClaudius, not to the Queen. The soliloquy To be ornot to be and the nunnery dialogue with Opheliaoccur in the same scene with the reading of Hamlet'slove-letter, and before the fishmonger dialogue withPolonius ; lines spoken to Hamlet by the Ghost on theplatform are here spoken by Hamlet to his mother inher closet ; Hamlet's comparison of Rosencrantz to asponge appears here in another connection. It is theKing, not Laertes, who proposes to anoint the rapier-point with venom. Gertrude, in the Closet scene, expresslydeclares that she was ignorant of her husband's murder,and she promises to assist her son in his revenge. Thereis a scene in which Horatio and the Queen confer aboutHamlet's return to Denmark from shipboard, the Queenappearing as a confederate on Hamlet's side.

b


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xviii INTRODUCTIONSuch differences as these can be accounted for only

in one of two ways either, as the Clarendon Presseditors maintain, a considerable portion of the old play isincluded in the Quarto of 1603, or that Quarto imper-fectly and often erroneously exhibits Shakespeare's workin a form which he subsequently revised and altered.When careful and judicious investigators fail to agree,the matter must be admitted to be doubtful. For myown part, repeated perusals have satisfied me that Shake-speare's hand can be discerned throughout the whole ofthe truncated and travestied play of 1603. The Shake-spearian irony of many passages is unlike anything wefind in plays of 15 88-1 5 89. With the exception of thefollowing lines :

Look you now, here is your husband,With a face like Vulcan,A looke fit for a murder and a rape,A dull dead hanging looke, and a hell-bred eie.To affright children and amaze the world :

I see nothing that looks pre-Shakespearian, and I seemuch that is entirely unlike the work of Kyd. It ispossible, indeed, that Kyd's work may have been revisedbefore 1600, but we have no evidence to that effect.Here and there echoes of a phrase, or a line, or a rhymein Jeronimo, or The Spanish Tragedy, or Solyman andPerseda may be heard in the Quarto of 1603, as echoesof Marlowe and of Lyly may be heard elsewhere. Butit has been aptly pointed out by Sarrazin that remin-iscences of Shakespeare's own Henry V. are found in apassage which appears only in this first Quarto. Comparefrom the Ouarto :


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INTRODUCTION xixWell Sonne Hamht we in care of you : but speciallyIn tender preservation of your health,

* *The winde sits faire, you shall aboorde to-night,with the following from Henry V., II. ii. 12 and 5759:

Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.* #

Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, in their dear careAnd tender preservation of our person.The general style of the Ham/ei of 1603 is much

more like that of an ill-reported play of that date thanlike the style of a play of Kyd's and Marlowe's timebut the actor's speech about Hecuba and Priam, thoughmuch reduced in length, stands out from the rest of theplay in this form as it does in the second Quarto and theFolio, by virtue of its reproduction of a style which wasout of date at the opening of the seventeenth century.

The Quarto of 1604 is carelessly printed and illpunctuated as compared with Hamlet of the Folio, yetit represents more faithfully and fully what Shakespearewrote. The Folio, counting only passages of more thanone line, omits 218 lines; the Quarto, 85. The mostconsiderable omissions in the Quarto are threethirteenlines immediately before the entrance of Osric in V. ii.this seems to be due to accident ; secondly, the passageabout the boy actors in II. ii. ; the omission was probablymade, as Professor Hall Griffin suggests, because it wouldbe unbecoming in the King's servants to show hostilityto the children, who were servants of the Queen ; thirdly,part of the dialogue between Hamlet and Rosencrantzand Guildenstern in an earlier passage of the same scene


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XX INTRODUCTIONthe reason for the omission seems to me obviousDen-mark is spoken of as a prison, or as one of the worstdungeons in the prison of the world, and Denmark wasthe native country of the Enghsh Queen.

The Folio text was evidently cut for the purpose ofstage representation, and generally it may be describedas more theatrical, but less literary, than the text of1604. The greater part of iv. iv., including Hamlet'svery important soliloquy, is deleted ; so are his medita-tions before the entrance of the Ghost in I. iv. ; Horatio'sdescription of the prodigies in Rome before the fall ofCaesar, I. i. ; Claudius's remarkable words to Laertes, inIV. vii., on the wearing effect of time on passion ; Ham-let's reflections on the monster Custom, III. iv. ; Hamlet'slines about the courtiers and his resolve to hoist theenginer with his own petar. III. iv. ; and much of hismockery of Osric, V. ii.^ Oaths and sacred words arealtered to avoid the legal offence of profanity. Someactors' additions are introduced, such as the unhappy O, o, o, o of the dying Hamlet, following his words The rest is silence. And there is a desire evident inthe editors of the Folio text to modernise certain wordswhich were regarded as old-fashioned.

The duration of the action in the play presentsdifficulties. It opens at midnight with the change ofsentinels. Next day Horatio and Marcellus, with Ber-nardo, inform Hamlet of the appearance of the Ghost ; itcannot be the forenoon, for Hamlet salutes Bernardowith Good even, sir. On the night of this day Hamlet

^ See Dr. Fumivall's Introduction to the second Quarto, prefixed toGriggs's facsimile.


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INTRODUCTION xxiwatches and meets his father's ghost. The season of theyear is perhaps March ; the nights are bitter cold. Thesecond Act occupies part of one day ; Polonius despatchesReynaldo to Paris, Ophelia enters alarmed by Hamlet'svisit, her father reads Hamlet's letter, the players arrive ;and, when Hamlet parts from them, his words are, I '11leave you till to-night. But before this day arrives,two months have elapsed since Hamlet was enjoined torevenge the murderit was two months since his father'sdeath when the play opened, and now it is twice twomonths. Next day Hamlet utters his soliloquy, Tobe or not to be, encounters Ophelia as arranged byPolonius, gives his advice to the players, is present atthe performance of the play ; and, night having come, hepleads with his mother, and again sees his father's spirit.Here the third Act closes, but the action proceeds with-out interruption ; the King inquires for the body ofPolonius, and tells Hamlet that the bark is ready to bearhim to England. We must suppose that it is morningwhen Hamlet meets the troops of Fortinbras. Two dayspreviously the ambassadors from Norway had returned,with a request that Claudius would permit Fortinbras tomarch through Denmark against the Poles ; Fortinbrashimself must have arrived almost as soon as the ambas-sadors, and obtained the Danish King's permission. InIV. v. Ophelia appears distracted, and Laertes has re-turned from Paris to be revenged for Polonius's death.An interval of time must have passed since Hamletsailed for Englandan interval sufficient to permitLaertes to receive tidings of the death of Polonius andto reach Elsinore. In the next scene letters arrive


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xxii INTRODUCTIONannouncing that Hamlet is again in Denmark ; beforehe was two days at sea, he became the pirates' prisoner.On the day of the arrival of letters Ophelia is drowned.Her flowers indicate that the time is early June. Ophelia'sburial and Hamlet's death take place on the next day.Yet the time has been sufficient for Fortinbras to winhis Polish victory and be again at Elsinore, and forambassadors to return from England announcing theexecution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. We mightobligingly imagine that the pirate ship conveying Hamletto Denmark was delayed by baffling winds ; but hisletters are written after he has landed, and they describehis companions as holding their course for England.The truth is, as stated by Professor Hall Griffin (whoserecord of the notes of time has aided me here), Shake-speare is at fault ; he did not trouble himself toreconcile . . . inconsistencies which practical experienceas an actor would tell him do not trouble the spectator.

The division of the last three Acts of the play ismade without the authority of any early edition. Act V.certainly opens aright. But the division between II. andIII. is a matter of doubt, and the received divisionbetween III. and iv. is unfortunate. Mr. E. Rose pro-posed that III, should open with Hamlet's advice to theplayers (ill. ii. of the received arrangement), and that IV.should open with the march of Fortinbras (our presentIV. iv.). As regards iv., this is the division of Mr.Hudson in his Harvard Shakespeare; and but for theinconvenience of disturbing an accepted arrangement, towhich references are made in lexicons and concordances,I should in this edition follow Mr. Hudson.


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INTRODUCTION xxiiiThe names of the dramatis personcs incongruously

mingle forms derived from the Hamlet tradition of theNorth with classical, Italian, and German forms. Ger-trude is a modification of Saxo's Gerutha. Horatio,in the old play Jeronimo, is the name of Andrea's faithfulfriend, who reappears in The Spanish Tragedy. Both Ofelia, the name of a shepherd, and Montano (thename of Reynaldo in the Quarto of 1603), are found inthe Arcadia of Sannazaro. The autograph signaturesdated i 577of Jorgen Rossenkrantz and P. Guldensternappear on the same page of an old German album inthe Royal Public Library at Stuttgart, the original ownerof which had resided for some time at Copenhagen ; ^ itdoes not follow that these individuals were in any sensethe originals of Shakespeare's courtiers ; an ambassadornamed Rosencrantz was sent to England at the accessionof James the First, and there were other Guildensterns.Shakespeare probably obtained the names from actorswho had returned from the Continent Fortinbras,wrote Mr. Elliot Browne {Athenc^um, July 26, 1876), is evidently Fortebras, or Strongarm of the family ofFerumbras of the romances, or may have come directlyfrom Niccolo Fortebraccio, the famous leader of thecondottieri.

It is not proposed here to notice the stage-history ofHamlet, the interpretations by eminent actors, nor thevast critical library that has grown around the play.Critics, I think, have sometimes erred in not keepingvividly before their imagination the nature of Shake-

^ See for facsimile Shakespeare Jakrbuch, xxv. ; and, for letters on thesubject, xxvi.


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xxiv INTRODUCTIONspeare's task. They often speak as if the poet startedwith some central idea of which Hamlet was to be theexponent. Shakespeare, wrote Goethe, sought todepict a great deed laid upon a soul unequal to theperformance of it. In Hamlet, wrote Coleridge, Shakespeare seems to have wished to exemplify themoral necessity of a due balance between our attentionto the objects of our senses and our meditation on theworking of our mindsan equilibrium between the realand the imaginary worlds. I prefer to think of Shake-speare as setting to work with the intention of rehandlingthe subject of an old play, so as to give it fresh intereston the stage ; as following the subject given to him, andas following the instinctive leadings of his genius. Thetraditional Hamlet was distinguished by intellectualsubtlety, by riddling speech, by a power of ingeniouslybafifling his pursuers, and, at the same time, by a love oftruth. But the subtlety of Saxo's Amlethand we maybe sure the same is true of Kyd's Hamletwas whatBurke happily describes, in a different connection, as a clumsy subtlety. If he would be taken to be mad,he affects unclean and brutal habits, or crows like acock, or rides a horse with his head towards the tail.Shakespeare was attracted by the intellectual subtlety ofHamlet, and was inevitably led by his genius to refinethis subtlety, and to diversify its manifestations. Hewas caught in the web of his own imaginings, andbecame so absorbed in his work that he forgot to keepit within the limits suitable for theatrical representationthe tragedy has, perhaps, never been presented in itsentirety on the English stage in consequence of its in-


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INTRODUCTION xxvordinate length. The swift and subtle wit that had itsplay at the Mermaid Tavern was now incarnated in oneof the creatures of Shakespeare's imagination.

Hamlet is not the exponent of a philosophy; he has, itis true, a remarkable power of reflection and a tendencyto generalise, but he is not a philosophical thinker whoseeks to co-ordinate his ideas in a coherent system.Perhaps Ulysses, perhaps Prospero approaches nearer tothe philosopher, but neither Ulysses nor Prospero is awit ; and Hamlet is a wit inspired by melancholy. Heis swift, ingenious, versatile, penetrative ; and he is alsosad. And when Shakespeare proceeded to follow thestory in the main as he had probably received it fromKyd, it turned out that such subtlety overreached itselfwhich Shakespeare recognised as wholly right, andtrue to the facts of life. Hamlet's madness is notdeliberately assumed ; an antic disposition is, as it were,imposed upon him by the almost hysterical excitementwhich follows his interview with the Ghost, and heingeniously justifies it to himself by discovering that itmay hereafter serve a purpose. But in truth his subtletydoes not produce direct and effective action. Hamlet isneither a boisterous Laertes, who with small resourcesalmost effects a rebellion in revenge for a murderedfather, nor a resolute Fortinbras, who, mindful of hisdead father's honour, can march through danger tovictory. Hamlet's intellectual subtlety sees every sideof every question, thinks too precisely on the event,considers all things too curiously, studies anew everyconviction, doubts of the past, interrogates the futureit delights in ironically adopting the mental attitudes of


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xxvi INTRODUCTIONother minds ; it refines contempt into an ingenious artit puts on and puts off a disguise ; it assumes and laysaside the antic disposition ; it can even use franknessas a veil,for sometimes display is a concealment, ashappened with Edgar Poe's purloined letter. Hamletthe subtle is pre-eminently a critica critic of art, acritic of character, a critic of society, a critic of life, acritic of himself.

The intellectual dexterity and versatility of Hamletare united with a moral nature essentially honest. Hewill not hire a couple of assassins to despatch his father'smurderer. He will not himself take action until he hasevidence of the King's guilt. Like the Amleth of Saxo,he is a lover of truth concealed in craft. His emotionalnature, though deeply disturbed by his mother's lapsefrom loyalty, and liable to passionate fluctuations, issound at heart. He reverences the memory of his greatfather, a man of action, whom Hamlet resembles as littleas he resembles Hercules. He is bound to Horatio byties of the deepest esteem and affection. He is kind tothe poor actors. He expends his utmost energy in aneffort to uplift and redeem his mother's faltering spirit.He is over-generous in his estimate of Laertes. He hasloved Ophelia as a vision of beauty and innocence, andis proportionately embittered when he supposes that hehas deceived himself and been deceived. But all hisinclinations are toward those who are unlike himselfHe is complex and self-tormenting; Ophelia seems allsimplicity and innocence ; he is oppressed by melancholythought ; she is something afar from the sphere of hissorrow. Horatio is a man whose blood and judgment,


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INTRODUCTION xxviiunlike Hamlet's own, are well commingled ; one who cansee the evil of the world, yet not grow world-wearymore of the antique Roman Stoic than a Dane. ForFortinbras Hamlet has the admiration which the man ofideas feels for the man of resolute action. In Claudiushe might have perceived some of his own intellectualsubtlety and reflective habit, but conjoined with grossersenses and an evil moral nature ; and him Hamlet loatheswith an impatient aversion.

Together with such an intellectual and such a moralnature, Hamlet has in him something dangerousa willcapable of being roused to sudden and desperate activity.It is a will which is determined to action by the flashand flame of an excitable temperament, or by thosesudden impulses or inspirations, leaping forth from asub-conscious self, which come almost like the revelationand the decree of Providence. It is thus that he suddenlyconceives the possibility of unmasking the King's guilt,on the accidental arrival of the players, and proceedswithout delay to put the matter to the test, suddenlyoverwhelms Ophelia with his reproaches of womanhood,suddenly stabs the eavesdropper behind the arras,suddenly, as if under some irresistible inspiration, sendshis companions on shipboard to their death, suddenlyboards the pirate, suddenly grapples with Laertes in thegrave, suddenly does execution on the guilty King,plucks the poison from Horatio's hand, and gives hisdying voice for a successor to the throne.

Hamlet's love for Ophelia is the wonder and delightin a celestial vision ; she is hardly a creature of earth,and he has poured into her ear almost all the holy vows


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xxviii INTRODUCTIONof heaven. The ruin of an ideal leaves him cruelly-unjust to the creature of flesh and blood. It is thestrangest love-story on record. Never throughout theplay is there one simple and sincere word uttered bylover to lover. The only true meeting of Hamlet andOphelia is the speechless interview in which he reads hersoul, despairs, and takes a silent and final farewell.Even in the letter, written prior to the terrible announce-ments of the Ghost, there is a conventional address anda baffling conclusion. After the silent parting, no trueword, except when passion carries him away to unde-served reproach, is uttered by Hamlet to Ophelia. Hislove has for the first time its outbreak at her grave,when the pity of it for a moment restores his lost ideal.Never to Horatio, never to himself in soliloquy, does heutter the name of Ophelia.

Whether Shakespeare's choice and treatment of theHamlet story was in any way connected with the historyof Leicester, Essex, and the mother of Essex, or withthe history of Mary Queen of Scots and Darnley, cannotbe considered here. I do not think that a good casehas been made out for either hypothesis.

The references to other plays of Shakespeare thanHamlet are to act, scene, and line as found in theGlobe Shakespeare.

I have to thank two learned students of Elizabethanliterature, Mr. W. J. Craig, editor of The Oxford Shake-speare, and Mr. H. C. Hart, for aid kindly given to me inthe preparation of this volume.


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THE TRAGEDY

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK


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Courtiers.

DRAMATIS PERSONSClaudius, King of Denmark.Hamlet, Son to the late, and Nepheiv to the prese7it King.FoRTiNBRAS, FHnce of Norway.Horatio, Friend to Hamlet.PoLONius, Lord Chamberlain.Laertes, his Son.voltimand, >^Cornelius,rosencrantz,Guildenstern,OSRIC,A Gentleman, .A Priest.Marcellus, I ^^T, > Officers.Bernardo, J -^Francisco, a Soldier.Reynaldo, Servant to Polonius.A Captain.English Ambassadors.Players.Two Clowns, Grave-diggers.Gertrude, Queen ofDenmark, atid Mother to Hamlet.Ophelia, Daughter to Polonius.Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and Attend-

ants.Ghost of Hamlefs Father.

Scene: Elsinore.


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THE TRAGEDY

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARKACT I

SCENE I. Ehinore. A Platform before the Castle.Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo.

Ber. Who 's there ?Fran. Nay, answer me ; stand, and unfold yourself.Ber. Long live the king Fran. Bernardo ?Ber. He. 5Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour.Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee to bed, Fran-

cisco.

Act I. Scene /.] Acts and scenes are not marked in Q; in F only asfar as 11. ii. 1-5] Many editors follow Capell in printing as verse, thefirst line ending with unfold. 7. iicnv struck] Steevens conj. iicw-stnic/:.

2. vie] Ale emphatic, Francisco Horatio and Marcelhis answer thebeing the sentinel on guard. challenge otherwise, but Francisco is3. king] Perhaps the watchword, not (line 15) at his post.

3


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4 HAMLET [acti.Fran. For this relief much thanks ; 'tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart.Ber. Have you had quiet guard ?Fran. Not a mouse stirring. loBer. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

Fran. I think I hear them. Stand, ho Who is there ?Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

Hor. Friends to this ground.Mar. And liegemen to the Dane, i 5Fran. Give you good night.Mar. O, farewell, honest soldier :Who hath relieved you ?Fran. Bernardo has my place.

Give you good night. \Exit.Mar. Holla Bernardo Ber. Say,

What, is Horatio there?Hor. A piece of him.Ber. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good Marcellus. 20Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night ?

14. hot Who is] (^, who^s Y. i6. soldier] F, soiildiers (^. 1 7. has]F, hath Q. 21. Mar.] Q i, F ; Hora. Q.

13. rivals] partners, which is the Compare Romeo and Juliet, I. ii.reading of Q I. Compare rivality 59.in Ant. atid Chop. III. v. 8, meaning 19. A piece of him] Warburtonpartnership, and The Tragedy of supposed that Horatio gives his hand ;Hoff?nafi (i6t,i) : it is night, adds Ingleby, and ile seat thee by my throne of Horatio is hardly visible to Bernardo.

state Shakespeare's intention seems to beAnd make thee rivall in those gov- to show that Horatio, the sceptical,ernments. can answer jestingly.

16. (J/Vf] Ellipsis for God give. 21. Mar.] The agreement of Q i


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SCI] PRINCE OF DENMARK 5Ber. I have seen nothing.Mar. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,

And will not let belief take hold of himTouching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us : 25Therefore I have entreated him alongWith us to watch the minutes of this night,That if again this apparition come,He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

Hor. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear,Ber. Sit down awhile ; 30

And let us once again assail your ears.That are so fortified against our story.What we two nights have seen.

Hor. Well, sit we down.And let us hear Bernardo speak of this,Ber. Last night of all, 3 5When yond same star that 's westward from the

poleHad made his course to illume that part of heavenWhere now it burns, Marcellus and myself.The bell then beating one,

Enter Ghost,Mar. Peace break thee off; look, where it comes

again 4026, 27. along With us to] comma after along Q, after us F. 33. iwo

nights have] F, have two nights Q. 39. beating'] totaling Q I. EnterGhost] Q ; Enter the Ghost after off, line 40, F.with Ff in assigning this speech noble thing This thing mayto Marcellus is strong against the be uttered with awe by Marcellus, orQuartos, which assign it to Horatio, with an air of incredulity by Horatio. Thing need not imply doubt or 29 approve] corroborate, justify, asdisrespect. Aufidius, Coriolanus, iv. in Ant. and Cleop. I. i. 60: he ap-V. 122, addresses Coriolanus as Thou proves the common liar.


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6 HAMLET [acti.Ber. In the same figure, like the king that 's dead.Mar. Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.Hor. Most like ; it harrows me with fear and wonder.Ber. It would be spoke to.Mar. Question it, Horatio. 45Hor. What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,

Together with that fair and warlike formIn which the majesty of buried DenmarkDid sometimes march ? by heaven I charge thee,

speak Mar. It is offended.Ber. See, it stalks away. 50Hor. Stay speak, speak : I charge thee, speak

{Exit Ghost.Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.Ber. How now, Horatio ? you tremble and look pale

Is not this something more than fantasy ?What think you on 't ? 5 5

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believeWithout the sensible and true avouchOf mine own eyes.Mar. Is it not like the king?

ar\. figure, '\Y, no comma Q. 44. iarrows\}iorrors Q i. 45. Qiies-fion\ F, Speake to Q.

42. ^r//^/;-] Latin was the language 45. Compare Boswell's Life ofof exorcisms. Reed cites Beaumont fohnsoti (ed. Birkbeck Hill, iii. 307) :and Fletcher, Night IValke?; II. i : Johnson once observed to me,Let's call the butler up, for he 'Tom Tyers described me the best:

speaks Latin, Sir (said he) you are like a ghost :And that would daunt the devil. you never speak till you are spoken44. harro'ws'\ Compare I. v. 16; to. 'and Milton, Co/nus, 565, Amazed I 49. sometimes'] someiivne, formerly,

stood, harrow'd with grief and fear. as in Henry VIII. Ii. iv. 181.


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sc. i] PRINCE OF DENMARK 7Hor. As thou art to thyself:

Such was the very armour he had on 60When he the ambitious Norway combated ;So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle.He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.'Tis strange.

A'lar. Thus twice before, and jump at this deadhour, 65

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch:Hor. In what particular thought to work I know

notBut, in the gross and scope of my opinion.This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he thatknows, 70Why this same strict and most observant watch

So nightly toils the subject of the land,And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,And foreign mart for implements of war

61. he\ omitted in F. 63. sledded'] Y, shaded C) ; Polacks^ Mai., pollaxQ I, Qq 2, 3, 4 ; Pollax Ff i, 2, Qq 5, 6 ; Polax F 3 ; Pole-axe F 4 ; PolackPope and other editors (meaning the King of Poland). 65. juinp\ Q i,(2; jusf F. 66. /la^A he gone by\ he passed through Q i. 68. r/iy'] V,mine Q. 73. why] F, with Q.

60. Furness asks, Was this the pole-axe. Boswell suggested that avery armour that he wore thirty years person who carried the pole-axe wasbefore, on the day Hamlet was born meant. Sled for sledge is found(see V. i. 155-176)? How old was in Colgrave's P'rench Dutioiiary.Horatio? But the armour would be Schmidt, reading pollax, explainsremembered and be pointed out, when ' ' sledded as having a sled or sledge,worn later. i.e. a heavy hammer.

62. parle ] parley. King John, II. 65. /ww/] just, exactly. See V. ii.205: this gentle parle. 386.

63. sledded Polacks] Poles in sleds 70. Good now,] Please you, as inor sledges. See Polack in II. ii. Winter's Tale, v. i. 19 ; Q I places75, and IV. iv. 23. The Earl of a comma after good, connectingRochester, 1761, explained steaded now with sit down.as loaded with lead, and Polacks as 73. subject] subjects, as in I. ii. 33.


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8 HAMLET [acti.Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore

task 7 5Does not divide the Sunday from the week ;What might be toward, that this sweaty hasteDoth make the night joint - labourer with the

day;Who is 't that can inform me ?

Hor. That can I ;At least the whisper goes so. Our last king, 8oWhose image even but now appear'd to us.Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride.Dared to the combat; in which our valiant

HamletFor so this side of our known world esteem'd

him 85Did slay this Fortinbras ; who, by a seal'd compactWell ratified by law and heraldry.Did forfeit, with his life, all those his landsWhich he stood seized of, to the conquerorAgainst the which, a moiety competent 90Was gaged by our king ; which had return'dTo the inheritance of Fortinbras,

88. those\ F, these Q. 89. ofl Q, on F. 91. return d] F, returne Q.

75. impress'] impressment, as in 87. heraldry'] Part of a herald'sTroihis a7id Cressida, 11. i. 107. duty was to regulate the forms con-

77' toward] imminent, as in v. ii. nected with a challenge and combat376. of state importance.

83. emulate] emulous ; not else- 89. seized of] possessed ofthewhere in Shakespeare. legal term still in use.86. compact] Always accented by 90. moiety] a portion, not neces-Shakespeare on the last syllable, with sarily a half. 1 Henry I'F. in. i. 96 :

one exception : 1 Henry VI. v. iv. 163 my moiety . . . equals not one of(Clar. Press). yours.


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sc. i] PRIXCE OF DENMARK 9Had he been vanquisher ; as, by the same covenantAnd carriage of the article design'd,His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortin-

bras, 95Of unimproved mettle hot and full.Hath in the skirts of Norway here and thereShark'd up a list of lawless resolutes.For food and diet, to some enterpriseThat hath a stomach in 't ; which is no other i ooAs it doth well appear unto our stateBut to recover of us, by strong handAnd terms compulsative, those foresaid landsSo by his father lost. And this, I take it,Is the main motive of our preparations, 105The source of this our watch and the chief headOf this post-haste and romage in the land.

93. covenattt\ Counant F, coinart Qq 2-5, co-mart Q 6 and many editors,Q of 1676 reads compact. 94. article design'd] Ff 2, 3,4; article desseigneQq 2, 3 ; articles deseigne Q 4 ; Articles desig7ie Q 5 ; Article designe F I.96. unimproved] inapproved Q I ; Singer, ed. 2 ; Keightley. 98. list]sight Q I ; lawless] Q, landlessc F and many editors. loi. As] Q, And F.103. compulsative] F, compulsatory Q and many editors.

93. covenant] The co-mart of gives also an appropriate sense ; butthe Qq, if not a misprint, is of Shake- here Q i agrees with Q 2 in givingspeare's coinage, meaning joint bar- lawless.gain. 98. resolutes] braves.

94. carriage] process, or import. 99. food and diet,] Paid only by96. unimproved] Clar. I'ress ex- what they eat. Qq I, 2 have no comma

plains as untutored, not chastened after diet ; may the meaning beby experience. Improve is found that the resolutes are to be the foodin Chapman and Whitgift, meaning and diet of a devouring enterprise,reprove (see Nares' Glossary), and which has a stomach in it ( food forunimproved may possibly mean powder ), with a play on stomachunrebuked or unimpeachcd. in its second sense of stubborn resolu-

98. Shark'd up] I'erhaps gathered tion ?as a sharker or swindler ; or snatched 107. romage] rummage, originallyindiscriminately as a shark swallows a nautical term for the stowage of afood. cargo (Skeat).

98. lawless] The F landless


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10 HAMLET [act I.Ber. I think it be no other but e'en so

Well may it sort that this portentous figureComes armed through our watch, so like the king i i oThat was and is the question of these wars.

Hor. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.In the most high and palmy state of Rome,A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted

dead 1 1Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star,Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands.Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse: 120And even the like precurse of fierce events.As harbingers preceding still the fates

108-125. Ber. I think . . . ro /nf>ymen]Q, omitted in F. I2I. fieyce\Q 4 {fearce),feare Q,y^arV Collier's conjecture.109. sort\ suit, as in Midsu/nmer ii6 has been lost; it may haveNight's Dream, V. 55, not sorting mentioned prodigies in the heavens,with a nuptial ceremony. Schmidt or may have told of warriors fighting

supposes it may mean fall out, ' upon the clouds; in Julius Ccesar,have an issue, as in other passages 11. ii. we read of such warriors whoof Shakespeare. were fiery, and from their en-112. motel The ?>toth of Q is only counters there drizzled blood. Ofan obsolete spelling of mote. many attempted emendations none

113. state'] Wilson (Christopher is satisfactory. Malone conjecturedNorth) pleads for State meaning Astres with . . . Disastrous dimm'dReigning City. the sun ; astre or aster is found in1 15-120.] Plutarch describes the Florio's Jtal. Diet, under Stella

prodigies preceding and following and in his translation of Montaigne.Caisar's deathfires in the elements. New Eng. Diet, explains disastersspirits running up and down in the here as unfavourable aspects. Thenight, a pale sun, which gave little light moist star is the moongovernessor heat. Compare_/^///; Ccesar, l.iii. of floods; so in Winter's Tale, I. ii. ISuch prodigies are very impressively Nine changes of the watery star.described in Marlowe's Liiean's First 122. still] constantly, as in Tew-Booke translated, published in 1600. pest, i. ii. 229 : the still vex'd

117, 118.] Perhaps a line following Bermoothes.


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SCI] PRINCE OF DENMARK 11And prologue to the omen coming on,Have heaven and earth together demonstratedUnto our climatures and countrymen. 125

Re-enter Ghost.But, soft, behold lo, where it comes again I '11 cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,Speak to me:If there be any good thing to be done, ' i 30That may to thee do ease and grace to me,Speak to meIf thou art privy to thy country's fate.Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,O, speak 135Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy lifeExtorted treasure in the womb of earth,For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

\The cock crozvs.Speak of it : stay, and speak Stop it, Marcellus.

138. }'oi('\ F, your Q. The cock crows] Q, omitted in F.123. oi>ieit'\ the ominous event, crossed him swiftly ; and when theFarmer cites from Ileywood's Life of l)ewitched Earl came to the placeMerlin: Merlin . . . liis country s where he saw this man, he first fellomen did long since foretell. sick. Opposite this line (^ has the125. climatures'] regions ; in which stage direction : It spreads his

sense climate is commonly found, armes.Dyce reads clit/iature. Clar. Press 134. happily] haply. See il. ii.suggests the inhahilants of our 408, and Measure for Measure, iv.regions. ii. 98 (Clar. Press). Hudson ex-

127. ril cross it, though il blast plains it fortunately. Furnessnie] Blakeway cites from Lodge's writes: The structure of this solemnJllustratious of British History, iii. appeal is almost identical with that48, a story of I'erdinando, Karl of of a very different strain in As YouDerby (who died 1594): on Friday Like It, 11. iv. 33-42.a tall man appeared, who twice


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12 HAMLET [act I.Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partisan? 140Hor. Do, if it will not stand.Ber. 'Tis hereHor. 'Tis hereMar. 'Tis gone {Exit Ghost.We do it wrong, being so majestical,

To offer it the show of violenceFor it is, as the air, invulnerable, 145And our vain blows malicious mockery.

Ber. It was about to speak when the cock crew.Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing

Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 150Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throatAwake the god of day ; and, at his warning,Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,The extravagant and erring spirit hiesTo his confine : and of the truth herein i 5 5This present object made probation.

Afar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.Some say that ever 'gainst that season comesWherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,The bird of dawning singeth all night long; 160

140. at'] F, omitted in Q. 150. mo>-n] Q, morning Q i, day F. 158.say} Q, sayes F. 160. The] Q i, F ; T/u's Q.140. partisan] a kind of halbert or 151. lofty] like shrill, qualifies

pike. sounding ; unless the uplifted1 50. trumpet] Malone quotes from throat of the crowing cock is

England's Parnassus, 1600 (in a meant.passage assigned to Drayton): the 154. extravagant] wandering outcocke, the morning's trumpeter. of bounds, vagrant. Othello. I. i. Trumpet for trumpeter occurs 137: an extravagant and wheelingin several passages of Shakespeare, stranger. Erring, straying.Henry F. iv. ii. 61 : I will the 1^6. prodation] proof, eis in Measurebanner from a trumpet take. for Measure, v. 157.


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SCI.] PRINCE OF DENMARK 13And then, they say, no spirit can walk

abroad ;The nights are wholesome ; then no planets

strike.No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to

charm,So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hor. So have I heard and do in part believe it. 165But look, the Morn, in russet mantle clad.Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern

hill;Break we our watch up ; and by my advice,Let us impart what we have seen to-nightUnto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, 170This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.Do you consent we shall acquaint himwith it.As needful in our loves, fitting our duty ?

Mar. Let 's do 't, I pray ; and I this morningknow

Where we shall find him most conveniently. 175[Exeunt.

161. can walk'] F, dare sturre Q, dare walke Q i. 163. takes] Q,talkes F. 164. the] F, that Q I, Q. 167. eastern] F, eastward Q.175. conveniently] Q i, F ; convenient Q.

161. walk] The Q stir has not siderare: to blast or strike with athe special ghostly significance of planet, to be taken.walk, which is frequent in Shake- 163. takes] affects with malignant

speare, e.g. Winter's Tale, v. i. 63 : influence. Merry Wives, IV. iv. 32 were I the ghost that walk'd. (of Heme the Hunter) :162. strike] blast, especially of And there he blasts the tree and

planetary influence. Coriolaniis, 11. takes the cattle.ii. 117: struck Corioli like a planet. So taking airs in Lear, 11. iv.Fumess quotes Florio's Z'/V/. : ^* As- 166.


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14 HAMLET [act i.SCENE II. A Roo7?i of State in the Castle.

Flourish. Efiter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius,Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords, andAttendants.

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's deathThe memory be green, and that it us befittedTo bear our hearts in grief and our whole king-domTo be contracted in one brow of woe.Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature 5That we with wisest sorrow think on him,Together with remembrance of ourselves.Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen.The imperial jointress of this warlike state.Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy, 10With one auspicious and one dropping eye.With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,In equal scale weighing delight and dole,Taken to wife : nor have we herein barr'dYour better wisdoms, which have freely gone i 5With this affair along : for all, our thanks.

Flourish] Q, omitted F ; the stage direction here is Malone's. Q after Gertrad the Queene has Counsaile : as Polonius ; F names Ophelia aspresent. 8. sometvne'] Q, sotnetimes F. 9. of^^ Y, to Q^, li. one, . . one] , ail ... a Q.

9. Jointress] Schmidt explains as in Othello, I. iii. 346 ; or destroyed,dowager. Clar. Press: joint pos- undone, as in Othello, IV. ii. 160:sessor. Hudson : heiress the Poet his unkindness may defeat myherein follows the history, which life.represents the former King to have 11.] Steevens notes the samecome to his throne by marriage. thought in IVinfe/'s Tale, V. ii. 80.

10. defeated] disfigured, marred, as Grant White reads drooping.


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 15Now follows that you know : young Fortinbras,Holding a weak supposal of our worth,Or thinking by our late dear brother's deathOur state to be disjoint and out of frame, 20Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,Importing the surrender of those landsLost by his father, with all bonds of law.To our most valiant brother. So much for him. 25Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:-Thus much the business is ; we have here writTo Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hearsOf this his nephew's purpose,to suppress 30His further gait herein ; in that the levies,The lists and full proportions, are all madeOut of his subject : and we here dispatchYou, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, 35Giving to you no further personal powerTo business with the king more than the scope

17. know: yoinig] Walker; no comma after kiiozv Q, V ; comma afterfollows F. 21. the'] F, this Q. 24. bonds'] F, bands Q and manyeditors. 25.] Enter Voltemand and Cornelius F. 26. meeting:] F 4,meeting, Q, meeting F. 35. For bearers] Q i, Q ; For bearing F.

17, that you know,] that which 22. pester] annoy and especially byyou know. The pointing is that crowding, as in Coriolaniis, iv. vi.suggested by S. Walker ; commonly 7 : Dissentious numbers pesteringwith commas after follows and streets.know. 23. Ifnportittg] having for import ;

21. Colleagued] Theobald suggested not, as Abbott explains, importuning,collogued, flattered, cajoled. The See Othello, 11. ii. 3.supposal, line 18, is colleagued, t^z. proportions] number of troops,united, with the dream. as in Henry V. \. ii. 304 : let our21. his advantage] his superiority proportions for these wars be soonto us. collected.


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16 HAMLET [act i.Of these delated articles allow.Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

Cor.^ Vol. In that and all things will we show ourduty. 40

King. We doubt it nothing : heartily farewell.\Exeunt Voltiniand and Cornelius.

And now, Laertes, what 's the news with you ?You told us of some suit ; what is 't, Laertes ?You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,And lose your voice : what would'st thou beg,

Laertes, 45That shall not be my offer, not thy asking ?The head is not more native to the heart,The hand more instrumental to the mouth,Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.What would'st thou have, Laertes ?

Laer. Dread my lord, 50Your leave and favour to return to France,From whence though willingly I came to Den-

mark,To show my duty in your coronation,Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.My thoughts and wishes bend again toward

France 5 538. ddaied] Q, dilated Y, related Q i. Cor., Vol.] Q, Volt. F. 41.Exeunt] P\ omitted Q. 49. is . . to]Q,F ; to . . . is Warburton and other

editors. 50. Dread mj>] F, Afy dread Q. 55. toward] Q, towards F.38. delated] Perhaps a different 47. native] cognate, connected by

speUing of the F dilated, mean- nature or birth, as in All's Well, i.ing expressed at large. But it may i. 238: To join like likes, and kissmean conveyed, carried, as in Bacon, like native things.Natural History: the time wherein 53. -(?;wm/z^] In Q I Laertes askssound is delated . . . the delation permission to leave Now that theof light is an instant. funerall rites are all performed.


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 17And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

King. Have you your father's leave ? What saysPolonius ?Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave

By laboursome petition, and at lastUpon his will I seal'd my hard consent 60I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes ; time be thine.And thy best graces spend it at thy willBut now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,

Hani. [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind. 65King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you ?Ham. Not so, my lord ; I am too much i' the sun.

57. Have . . . Polonius .'] Q, two lines F. 58. He hai/i] F, Hath Q.58-60. wrung . . . consent\ Q, omitted in F. 64.] Exit Q i. 64.son'\ Sonne Q, sonne ? , son Rowe. 65. [Aside]] added by Theobald.67. so^ F, so muck Q ; z' ike sun] Capell, z t/i' Sun Y, in ike sonne Q.

56. pardon'] permission to depart, as crate or dishonour kindred. Thein III. ii. 332. play upon kin or kindred and kind

64. cousin] kinsman (exclusive of or kindly is found in Gorboduc, inparent, child, brother, and sister); l^yWs MotherBoinbie,2LX\dmKo\\\e.y'sused elsewhere in Shakespeare for Search for Money. Kind foruncle, niece, grandchild. nature occurs several times in

65.] It can hardly be doubted Shakespeare,that this Hamlet's first word is 67. /'/// j/^m.] Hamlet's delight inspoken aside. Does it refer to the ambiguous and double meaningsKing or to himself? If to himself, it makes it probable that a play is in-may mean a little more than a kins- tended on sun and son. Heman (for I am, incestuously, a step- is too much in the sunshine of theson), and less than kind, for I hate court, and too much in the relationthe King. So Malone. Knight says of sonson to a dead father, son tolittle of the same nature with an incestuous mother, son to an uncle-Claudius. More probably it refers father. It was suggested by Johnsonto the King, meaning : My step-father that there is an allusion to the(more than cousin), but in less than a proverbial expression (see Lear, n.natural relation. Compare il. ii. ii. 168): Out of heaven's blessing619: lecherous, kindless (i.e. un- into the warm sun, which means tonatural) villain. To go or be out of house and home ; Hamletgrow out of kind is found in is deprived of the throne. SchmidtBaret's Alvearie and Cotgrave's lakes it to mean merely, I am moreFrench Diet., meaning to degen- idle and careless than I ought to be.


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18 HAMLET [act i.Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,

And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.Do not for ever with thy vailed lids 70Seek for thy noble father in the dustThou know'st 'tis common ; all that lives must die,Passing through nature to eternity.

Ham, Ay, madam, it is common.Queen. If it be,Why seems it so particular with thee? 75Ham. Seems, madam nay, it is ; I know not seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother.Nor customary suits of solemn black.Nor windy suspiration of forced breath.No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, 80Nor the dejected haviour of the visage.Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,That can denote me truly ; these indeed seem,For they are actions that a man might playBut I have that within which passeth show ; 85These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature,Hamlet,

68. nighted] Q, nightly F. 70. vailed] Q ; veyled Ff I, 2; veiled Ff3, 4. 72. common ;] Theobald, com/non, , common Q. lives] Q, F ; liveFf 2, 3, 4 and many editors. 77- good mother] F ; coold mother Qq 2, 3 ;could smother Qc]^ ^-6. 82. modes] Q 1695, Capell ; tnoodes Q; Moods Fand many editors, shows] F ; chapes Qq 2, 3 ; shapes Qq 4-6. 83. denote]F, Q 6 ; denote Q. 85. passeth] F, passes Q. 87.] Q, two lines F.

68. nighted] black. So in Lear, 82. modes] Moods may beIV. V. 13: his nighted life (of the right.blind Gloster). 82. shows] The show of line 85,

69. Denmark]\ a& King ; so Nor- as Furness observes, is an intentionalway in line 28. and emphatic repetition of the70. vailed] cast down. Merchant shows of this line.

of Venice, i. i. 28: Vailing herhigh-top lower than her ribs.


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 19To give these mourning duties to your fatherBut, you must know, your father lost a father,That father lost, lost his ; and the survivor

bound 90In filial obligation for some termTo do obsequious sorrow ; but to perseverIn obstinate condolement is a courseOf impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, , 95A heart unfortified, a mind impatient.An understanding simple and unschool'd :For what we know must be and is as commonAs any the most vulgar thing to sense.Why should we in our peevish opposition 1 00Take it to heart ? Fie 'tis a fault to heaven,A fault against the dead, a fault to nature.To reason most absurd, whose common themeIs death of fathers, and who still hath cried,From the first corse till he that died to-day, 105 This must be so. We pray you, throw to earthThis unprevailing woe, and think of usAs of a father ; for let the world take note,You are the most immediate to our throneAnd with no less nobility of love i i o

90. lost, lost] dead, lost Q i. 96. a tniiid] F, or mindc Q. 107. tin-prevailing] unavailing, Hanmer.

92. obsequious] Suitable to obse- prevail in Koiiico and Juliet, iii.quies, as in Titus Aiidronicus, V. iii. 60. Drydcn, Essay on Dramaticiii. 152: obsequious tears. See Poetry. Me may often prevail him-also Sontuts, xxxi. 5. self of the same advantages.

92. persever] Always accented by 109. immediate] The throne ofShakespeare on the second syllable Denmark was elective ; see v. ii.(Clar. Press). 65 ; but Hamlet was the probable

107. unprevailing] unavailing. So successor to Claudius.


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20 HAMLET [acti.Than that which dearest father bears his sonDo I impart toward you. For your intentIn going back to school in Wittenberg,It is most retrograde to our desireAnd we beseech you, bend you to remain 1 1 5Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:I pray thee, stay with us ; go not to Wittenberg.Ham. I shall in all my best obey you, madam. i 20

King. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair replyBe as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come ;This gentle and unforced accord of HamletSits smiling to my heart ; in grace whereof.No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day, i 2 5But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell.And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,

112. toward^ Q, towards F. 113. iti Wittenberg] to Wittenberg, Qq 4, 5.119. pray thee] Q, prythee] F. 120.] Q, two lines F. 127. heavens]F, heaven Q.

112. impart] The verb has no ob- let Wittenberg was a foreign univer-ject ; perhaps it is a confused con- sity, to which he might go at any age,struction ; possibly it is a case after his earlier education had beenof the absorption of it by the completed.t of impart. To obtain an 114. retrograde] Prof. Hales notesobject Badham suggests the reading in Chapman's May-Day (vol. ii. p.nobility no less in line no. John- 373, ed. 1873): Be not retrogradeson explains impart as impart to our desires. Originally an astro-myself. logical term. See Atfs Well, i.

113. Wittenberg] The university i. 212.was founded in 1502 ; Luther had 127. rouse] bumper, as in I. iv. 8,made it famous. In The Tragedy of and Othello, \\. iii. 66; Swedish ras,Hoffman (1602), the foolish lerom drunkenness. Dekker, in The Gtil'ssays, I am not foole, I have bin iyi5';--.6'(7^X't', Procemium, enumeratingto Wittenberg, where wit growes. national drinking customs, mentionsShakespeare may have heard of it in the Danish Rowsa.Marlowe's Doctor Faiistus, and in 127. bruit] noise abroad, as inNash's Life of lacke Wilton, 1594. Macbeth, V. vii. 22.It must be remembered that for Ham-


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 21Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

\^Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.Hani. O that this too too soHd flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew 130Or that the Everlasting had not fix'dHis canon 'gainst self-slaughter O God O GodHow weary, stale, flat, and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world Fie on 't O fie 'tis an unweeded garden i 3 5That grows to seed ; things rank and gross in YiaturePossess it merely. That it should come to this But two months dead nay, not so much, not twoSo excellent a king ; that was, to this,Hyperion to a satyr ; so loving to my mother 140That he might not beteem the winds of heaven

Flourish] Q, omitled F. 129. solid\ F; sallied O I, Q; sullied Anon,conject. 132. O God O God ] F, God, God Q. 134. Seem] Q,SeemesY. 135. Ofie \ ah fie (^l; Oh fie, fie Y ; Ohfie Y1 1, a,. 137.come to this /] F, eoine thus Q.

129. too too] Intensive reduplica- which is frozen, regelo. Comparetion; hyphened b}^ some editors. Com- Timon, iv. iii. 442.pare 'J'wo Gentlemen of Verona, il. 132. canon 'gainst self-slaughter']iv. 205. So also Cymbeline, III. iv. 77-So.

129. W/VjT] .W/V/ and wf// are found ''Unless it be the sixth command-in conjunction, as here, in 2 Henry ment, the ' canon ' must be one ofIV. III. i. 48. The sallied of Q and natural religion (Wordsworth, 6'//fl/r-Q I is defended by Dr. Furnivall, spearc's Knowledge and Use of thewho cites Cotgrave's French Diet. Bible, p. 149).saillie, a sallie, eruption, violent 137. merely] completely. Compareissue; also assaille, assaulted, as- Tempest, i. i. 59: We are merelysayled. If we were to icta.in sallied, cheated of our lives.I should explain it as sullied, com- 140. Hyperion] Spenser, Gray,paring 11. i. 39, where Y reads sullyes Keats, like Shakespeare, throw theand Q sallies ; and, seeing that Q 1 accent on the second syllable.has here this too much griev'd 141. fe/etv/'/] permit ; beteene inand sallied flesh, we have some Ff i, 2. So Golding, Ovid's Meta-reason to think that sullied may be morphoses (published 1587) :right. Yet could he not beteeme

130. resolve] Caldecott cites Baret's The shape of any other bird thenAtvearie: To thaw or resolve that eagle for to seeme.


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22 HAMLET [act i.Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earthMust I remember? why, she would hang on him,As if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on ; and yet, within a month 145Let me not think on^'t.Frailty, thy name is womanA Httle month or ere those shoes were oldWith which she follow'd my poor father's body,Like Niobe, all tears ; why she, even sheO God a beast, that wants discourse of reason, i 50Would have mourn'd longer,married with my uncle,My father's brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules. Within a month ?Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tearsHad left the flushing in her galled eyes, 155She married. O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets It is not nor it cannot come to goodBut break my heart, for I must hold my tongue

143. woitld] F, should Q. 145. ??ionth ] month, Q, month ? F.147. shoes] Q, F ; shoivs Ingleby conj. 149. evett she] F, omitted in Q.150. O God ] Q, Heaven F. 151. wj]Q, muie F. 153, month?] F,month, Q. 155. the] their Q i ; in] Q, o/Y.

147. or ere] Or, an old form of Hamlet. The closing words are:ere ; so in line i83of this scene, Or Hie Amlethi exitusfuit, qui si paremever. The reduplication is found in naturae atq. fortunae indulgentiamseveral other passages. expertus fuisset, cequasset fulgore su-

150. discourse of reaso7i] discursive peros, lierculea virtutibus operapower of reason. Found several transcendisset.times in Florio's Montaigne, 1 603. 155. frisking] Hudson and RolfeJohnson's ZJ/iYz'iJwa;J defines i/nruwrj^: explain this as redness. Clar. Press: the act of the understanding by which The verb ' flush ' is still used transi-it passes from premises to conse- tively, meaning, to fill with water.quences. See IV. iv. 36, and 7>w7/ 157. dexterity~\ adroitness. Clar.and Cressida, ii. ii. 116. Press compares 1 Henry IV. -W. iv.

153. //(?;-t/fj-] Perhaps a relic of the 286.histoiy of Amlethus in Saxo Gramina- 159. break] A subjunctive, not anticus, whose Hamlet is in some re- imperative, and ' heart ' is a subject,spects the opposite of Shakespeare's not a vocative (Corson).


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 23Enter HORATio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. ^

Hor. Hail to your lordship Ham. I am glad to see you well : 1 60

Horatio,or I do forget myself.Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.Ham. Sir, my good friend; I '11 change that name with you :

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio ?Marcellus? 165

Mar. My good lord,Ha7n. I am very glad to see you. \^To Bernardo.']

Good even, sir.But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so, i 70

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence.To make it truster of your own reportAgainst yourself; I know you are no truant.But what is your affair in Elsinore ?We '11 teach you to drink deep ere you depart. i 7 5

Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student

I think it was to see my mother's wedding.165. Marcelltisl'] Capell, Marcellus. Q, Y. i66. lord,] Rowe ; lord. (^,F; lord? Cambridge. 167. sir^sirs Q I. 170. hear\ Q, have F. 171.

ritine\ F, nty (). 172. fiiake] take PT 2-4. 175. lo drink deep] Q I, F ;/or to drinke Q. l ] ]. pray thee] F, pre thee Q. 17S. see\ Q I, F;omitted Q.

160, 161.] Sir II. Irving, as Ilam- the name friend. Johnson ex-let, delivers I . . . well as a con- plains: I'll be your servant, youventional greeting to unrecognised shall be my friend.intruders; Hamlet then looks up and 164. make you] do you, as in II.perceives his friend. ii. 280.

162. chafige that name] Exchange


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24 HAMLET [act i.Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio the funeral baked-meats i8o

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.Would I had met my dearest foe in heavenOr ever I had seen that day, Horatio My father,methinks I see my father.

Hor. O where, my lord ?Ham, In my mind's eye, Horatio. 185Hor. I saw him once ; he was a goodly king.Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again.Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.Ham. Saw ? who ? 190Hor. My lord, the king your father,Havi. The king my father Hor. Season your admiration for a whileWith an attent ear, till I may deliver.

Upon the witness of these gentlemen,This marvel to you.

Ham. For God's love, let me hear. 195183. Or ever I had] Q, Ere I had ever F, Ere ever I had Q i. 184. My

father,] Rowe, My father Cambridge, O my father, my father, Q i.185. wherel F, Where Q. 187. in a//,] in all Q, in all: F. 190.Saw? who?} F ; Saw, zvho Q i, Q. 193. attent} Q, F; attentive Q I, (^q4-6, Ff 3, 4. 195. God's] Gods Q, Heavens F.

180. baked-meats'] pastry. Collins 187. a man,] Edwin Booth, in It was anciently the general custom delivering this speech, paused afterto give a cold entertainment to man, giving it as if somethingmourners at a funeral. In distant higher than king.counties this practice is continued ig2. Season your admiration] Tem-among the yeomanry. per your astonishment. Compare, for

182. dearestfoe] Cla.r. Tresf^: Dear season, ' 11. i. 28, and for ad-is used of whatever touches us nearly miration, in. ii. 342. So in Mas-either in love or hate, joy or sorrow. singer's The A'ene^ado, iii. iii.,In 1 Henry IV. iii. ii. 123, we find Season your admiration.

near'st and dearest enemy.


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sen] PRINCE OF DENMARK 25Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,

Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,In the dead vast and middle of the night.Been thus encounter'd : a figure Hke your father.Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, 200Appears before them, and with solemn marchGoes slow and stately by them ; thrice he walk'dBy their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,Within his truncheon's length ; whilst they, distill'dAlmost to jelly with the act of fear, ' 205Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to meIn dreadful secrecy impart they didAnd I with them the third night kept the watch ;Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,Form of the thing, each word made true and

good, 2 10The apparition comes. I knew your father ;These hands are not more like.

Ham. But where was this ?Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.

198. vasl'\ Q I, Qq 5, 6 ; ivast Qq 2-4, F ; waste Ff 2-4 and many editors ;waist Malone, Steevens, Variorum. 200. Armed at /ohitl Q, Armed topoynt Q I, Arm^d at all points F. 202. stately by thetn ; thrice'] (^,stataly : By them thrice F. 204. his] F, this Qq 4-6. distilfcf] Q, Q I ;bestiFd F I ; hestiird Y 2 ; be stilPd Ff 3, 4 ; bcchilPd Collier (MS.). 205.the act of] th'' effect of '^^xhwxX.'^w. 213. watch\i] F, zvatch Q.

198. vast] vacancy, void, empti- '^Mar. Is Harry Hereford arm'd ?ness, as in Tempest, i. ii. 327, vast Aum. Yea, at all points.of night. Waste of Ff has the 204. distill d]mG\\.e^. Dyce quotes.same sense. Malone, supporting from Sylvester's Du Bartas : Melt waist, quotes from Marston's Mai- thee, distill thee, turn to wax or snow.content: the immodest waist of Jelly is probably named because ofnight. its quivering, like the quivering of

200. at point exactly] Clar. Press fear,explains at all points, and (juotes 205. act] action, operation, as inRichard II, 1. iii. 2: Othello, ni. iii. 328.


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26 HAMLET [act i.Ham. Did you not speak to it ?Hor. My lord, I did ;But answer made it none ; yet once methought 2 i 5

It lifted up it head and did addressItself to motion, like as it would speak ;But even then the morning cock crew loud,And at the sound it shrunk in haste awayAnd vanish'd from our sight.

Ham. 'Tis very strange. 220Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true ;And we did think it writ down in our dutyTo let you know of it.

Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.Hold you the watch to-night ?

Mar., Ber. We do, my lord. 225Ham. Arm'd, say you ?Mar., Ber. Arm'd, my lord.Ha7n. From top to toe ?Mar., Ber. My lord, from head to foot.Ham. Then saw you not his face ?Hor. O, yes, my lord ; he wore his beaver up.Ham. What, look'd he frowningly ? 230

216. it\ i^s Qq 5, 6, Ff 3, 4; /u's Q i. 221. honour'd] honourable Ff2-4. 224. Indeed, indeed] Q I, F ; Indeede Q. 228. face /*] Y,face. O.230. What, look'd he] How look't he, Q i.

214. Did you] Actors commonly 226. Anu'cP^ Refers, of course, toemphasise you ; Marcellus and the Ghost.Bernardo had been silent. Steevens 228. face?] The Q face, may beargues for emphasis on speak. right, uttered with a tone of disap-

216. it head] The possessive zV pointed expectation,occurs fourteen times in the Folio (net 229. beai'er] In ihe i6th centurycounting a doubtful case in Two Gen- the beaver became confounded vvitht/emen of Verona, V. ii. 21), it's nine the visor, and could be pushed uptimes,and /Aonly once (Rolfe). The entirely over the top of the helmet,usual form of the possessive of it in and drawn down at pleasureElizabethan writers is his. (Planche).


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sen.] PRINCE OF DENMARK 27Hor. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.Ham. Pale, or red ?Hor. Nay, very pale.Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you ?Hor. Most constantly.Ham. I would I had been there.Hor. It would have much amazed you. 235Ham. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long ?Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a

hundred.Mar., Ber. Longer, longer.Hor. Not when I saw 't.Ham. His beard was grizzled ? no?Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life, 240A sable silver'd.Hain. I will watch to-nightPerchance 'twill walk again.Hor. I warrant it will.Ha7n. If it assume my noble father's person,

I '11 speak to it, though hell itself should gapeAnd bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, 245If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,Let it be tenable in your silence stillAnd whatsoever else shall hap to-night

232. Pale, or] Q, F ; Pale or Qq 4-6. 236. Very like, very like] Q I,F; Very like Q. 239. grizzled i no?] grissFd, no. Q, grisly? no. F,grisly? i 2-0,, grizzled,tio? Dyce. 241. /will] Q, Jle V. 242. walk] Q,wake F; warraul] Q 1, Q ; warrantyou F. 247. tenable] Q i, Q ; treble F.236. like] likely. defended by Caldecott, meaning a244. gape] Staunton suggests that threefold obligatidn of silence. G.

perhaps gape signifies yell, howl, Macdonaldsays, The actor, in utter-/^ar, rather than jaTfw or ci/f, citing ing it, must point to each of theHenry VIII. V. iv. 3. three witnesses. Clar. Press, /rt-Z'/f,

248. tenable] The treble of F is a mere misprint.


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28 HAMLET [act i.Give it an understanding, but no tongueI will requite your loves. So fare you well : 250Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,I '11 visit you.

All. Our duty to your honour.Ham. Your loves, as mine to you : farewell,

\Exeunt Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.My father's spirit in arms all is not wellI doubt some foul play: would the night were

come 255Till then sit still, my soul : foul deeds will rise,Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

\Exit.

SCENE III. A Room in Polonius's House.Enter LAERTES a?id OPHELIA.

Laer. My necessaries are embark'd ; farewellAnd, sister, as the winds give benefitAnd convoy is assistant, do not sleep,But let me hear from you.

Oph. Do you doubt that ?Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, 5

250. yott] Q, ye F. 252. duty} duties Q i. 253. loves] Q, love F254. arms /] F 4, armes ? Ff 1-3, {in amies) in parenthesis Q. 256. foul] Ffonde Q. 257. them, to] Pope included 77io' . . . them in parenthesisno comma after them in Q, F.

Scene ill.3. convoy is assistant'] F (semicolon after assistant), convay, in assistant Q.

5. favour] Q, favours F and many editors.

255. doubt] suspect, fear. Compare AlPs Well, iv. iv. 10 (Clar. Press). Perhaps it means an escortS^-^^'^ t- of ships of war.3. convoy] means of conveyance.


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sc. Ill] PRINCE OF DENMARK 29Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood,A violet in the youth of primy nature,Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting.The perfume and suppliance of a minute ;No more.

OpJi. No more but so ?Laer. Think it no more : i o

For nature crescent does not grow aloneIn thews and bulk ; but, as this temple waxes,_The inward service of the mind and soulGrows wide withal. Perhaps he loves younow

And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch i 5The virtue of his will ; but you must fear.His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his ownFor he himself is subject to his birth ;He may not, as unvalued persons do,Carve for himself, for on his choice depends 20

8. Fonnard] Q, Ff 3, 4 ; Froward Y ; sweet, not'\ tho sweet, not Rowe,swict, but not Capell. 9. perfume and] Q, omitted F. 10. so ?] Rowe,so. Q, F. 12. 6ulA] V, du/iesQ ; tA/'s] Q, /us F. 16. wii'/] Q,/eare F.18.] Omitted in Q. 20. Cai-ve] Crave Qq 4-6.

6. fashion, and a toy in h/oO(i] a 13. senuLel Suggested, in tlicmode of youth, that he should serve sense of religious service, bya mistress, and a play of amorous temple.temperament. 15. cautel] craft, deceit. Used by

7. primy] of the spring-time. Shakespeare only here and in A8. No metrical emendation is ne- Lover^s Complaint, 303. Cotgrave's

cessary ; the speaker dwells on / Viewt/i Z'/dV'. gives Cautelle, a wile,sweet, as if to draw out its mean- cautell, deceit.ing, and pauses slightly. 20. Carve for himself] Rushton

9. J7c////a;/a'] Mason explains an quotes from Swinburn's Treatise onamusement to fill up a vacant mo- IVills, 1590: it is not lawful forment. legataries to carve for themselves,10. so?] Corson prefers the so. taking their legacies at their ownof (2, F; Ophelia does not question pleasure.but submits.

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